Term Papers on The Oxymoron: A Barbaric Civilization

Term Paper Title	The Oxymoron: A Barbaric Civilization
# of Words	909
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.64

The Oxymoron: A Barbaric Civilization

January 30, 2004

“The test of the moral quality of a civilization is its treatment of the weak and the powerless.”

According to a 19th century sociologist Morgan, before a group of people are called civilized, they must go through two other primitive stages of development. A group of people who are polygamous, nomadic, and live by anarchic rule undergo savagery. As polygamy becomes more limited and people begin to establish small permanent structures yet are still not quite orderly, they undergo the barbaric stage. After going through these 2 stages, as the people are able to put order into their group (now better called as society), as they are able to create laws and abide by them, and as the words “ethical” and “moral” become highly regarded, then the society becomes a civilization – its citizens, civilized.

Thus, to juxtapose civilization with low moral quality is but an oxymoron. Yet it does happen. Sometimes, when civilizations reach a certain level - when their population reaches a certain size and their technology reaches a certain echelon - a civilization may revert back to its barbaric and even savage ways. As Javert, the inspector in Les Miserables said, “When a town grows, crime grows with it.”

Low moral quality is one thing that could bring a civilization down. Bearing this in mind, society has created a solution – LAWS. Laws were created primarily to keep society in order and to eventually lead to the preservation of their civilization. Laws aim to uphold morality. But for a society wherein order has gone completely haywire and “ethics and morality” have become nothing but mere fancy words for the exclusive use of the strong and powerful, the implementation of the laws could be challenging. Apprehending “law breakers” is a challenge fit for only a few.

Now we ask, who are these “law breakers”? To whom are those strict laws imposed on? The characters in Les Miserables are perfect archetypes of these so-called “law breakers.” Jean Valjean is a man who commits a petty crime because of poverty and is forever penalized by that one act. Fantine is a victim of injustice and is eventually succumbed by it. Cosette is an idirect victim of past injustices. Marius is the radical despised and punished by the law but does not succumb to it. These four characters paint a perfect picture of the weak and the powerless that because of their situation, are forced to do whatever they can in order to just keep themselves and their families alive. But the law doesn’t see the nobility of their actions. In the eyes of the law, their actions are those that cause disorder in society. And because apprehending them is chall...

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